Lakers to Keep Scoring Off-Court After Dwight Howard’s Departure

By Erik Matuszewski -
Jul 8, 2013

Los Angeles Lakers General Manager
Mitch Kupchak used to say the team never lost a player it wanted
to keep. Dwight Howard’s exit changed that.

Howard announced last week that he’s joining the Houston
Rockets after one season with the Lakers, whose 16 titles are
one behind the Boston Celtics for the most in National
Basketball Association history. His departure dropped the
Lakers’ odds of adding another championship to 40-1 from 25-1,
putting them behind 12 teams including the Los Angeles Clippers.

“The Laker brand has taken a bit of a hit lately,” Carter
said by e-mail. “But it is important to note that the Lakers
are never down for long. As a global brand and a consistently
competitive team in the hotbed of entertainment, they will not
be down for long.”

Howard, 27, a seven-time All-Star center and three-time NBA
defensive player of the year, spurned the Lakers’ league-maximum
offer of $118 million over five years to accept a four-year, $88
million contract from the Rockets.

Best Place

“It’s the best place for me,” said Howard, who struggled
to mesh with Bryant and point guard Steve Nash last season in
coach Mike D’Antoni’s system. After Bryant tore his Achilles
tendon in April, the Lakers failed to advance past the first
round of the playoffs for the first time in six years, and
Howard was ejected from what was ultimately his final game with
the team.

The Lakers erected billboards in Los Angeles and started a
Twitter campaign urging Howard to stay, while Kupchak met with
him minutes after the start of the NBA’s free-agency period,
according to the Los Angeles Times and ESPN.

When Bryant was a free agent in 2004, he was persuaded to
stay with the Lakers after a face-to-face meeting with owner
Jerry Buss, who died in February at the age of 80. Under Buss’s
leadership, the team won five NBA titles in nine years in the
1980s, and five more from 2000 to 2010.

Although Buss is gone, the Lakers will remain among the
NBA’s elite franchises, according to Richard Peddie, who
formerly ran Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owner of the
NHL’s Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada
Centre.

“In their history they have survived the loss of West,
Magic and Abdul-Jabbar only to rise again,” Peddie said in an
e-mail. “The brand is pretty darn powerful. It has historic
success, L.A. sizzle and iconic past stars to keep it strong for
many years. Plus a hell of a TV deal.”

Billion-Dollar Franchise

The Lakers are entering the second season of a 20-year,
$3.6 billion contract with Time Warner Cable and are one of two
NBA teams -- along with the New York Knicks -- valued at more
than $1 billion by Forbes magazine. The franchise’s financial
standing will help restock a roster whose only player under
contract for the 2014-15 season is 39-year-old Nash.

“Although the Lakers have never skimped on payroll, their
new TV network should keep them in a unique position of being
able to spend when they want and on whomever they want,” Carter
said.

Howard, who has averaged 18.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.2
blocked shots a game in his nine-year career, joins a Rockets
team whose top four scorers last season were all 26 or younger.
Houston went 45-37, the same record as the Lakers, and also lost
in the first round of the playoffs.

Public Curiosity

With Howard’s arrival, the Rockets’ odds of winning the
title improved to 15-1, tied for fifth in the 30-team NBA behind
the Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls and San
Antonio Spurs. Also at 15-1 are the Clippers, who may be better
than the Lakers on the court next season, yet will remain the
No. 2 NBA brand in Los Angeles behind the Lakers, according to
former CBS Sports President Neal Pilson.

“The Clippers must win to maintain their status, unlike
the Lakers,” said Pilson, the president of Pilson
Communications Inc. “They may win more games than the Lakers
next season but the national ratings will still be stronger for
the Lakers for some time since the public will be curious to see
how they are doing, win or lose.”